Chemulpo to Songdo IBD: Korea’s International Gateway
Interested in Korean history, Incheon, and Songdo IBD?
A very high quality complimentary web version of the pictorial history book is available online. Click Here.
The book was crafted bilingual, Korean and English.
Questions on Korea-facing global business?
Just ask dsoutherton@bridgingculture.com
As the holidays approach, you may wish to greet your Korean colleagues with:
Sae hae bok man i ba deu say yo! (Season’s Greetings)
(I will modify the Romanization for easier pronunciation).
Hint: Break the greeting into: sae hae bok—mah ne—bah deu say yo
In South Korea, the government recognizes Christmas December 25 as a public holiday. Christians, who make up about 30% of the population, celebrate the occasion as a religious holiday.
Like in the West, both Christians and non-Christians may engage in some holiday customs such as gift-giving, sending Christmas cards, and setting up decorated trees in their homes.
Each year I see more signs of commercialism in Korea with stores and buildings displaying Christmas decorations and offering holiday sales. What may surprise some is that public and company Christmas trees and decoration stay up way past the holiday. In fact, many stay in place to the Lunar New Year.
Sae hae bok man i ba deu say yo! works well and is a common seasonal greeting. For those wanting to wish someone Merry Christmas use Sung tan jul chuk ha.
If you have a specific holiday question, please feel to contact us by email.
On behalf of myself and Songdo IBD CityTalk, have a happy holiday season!
Sae hae bok man i ba deu say yo!
Perspectives from a speaker, humanitarian, and businessman who has made “shaping the world’s future” his lifelong passion.
Joseph Chung
by Joseph James Chung
Coming straight from my home in Silicon Valley, California, I arrived in Songdo hoping to discover the world’s most compelling city. You may ask, what might such a city look like? I was looking for a city that could support a collaborative international community capable of solving the world’s greatest challenges. An entire city well poised to help shape and implement innovative and practical answers to global issues such as finding a cure for cancer, eliminating extreme poverty, developing capable leaders, or constructing the most efficient educational models for people of all ages, is a compelling city to me.
I arrived in Songdo ready to put this new city to the test. Quite naturally, I applied a three step process. The first step was to identify the true intent of the people involved in its development. The second step was to reach out to the pioneers — the people working on the ground — of this community to see what type of response I received. The third step was to investigate the city’s infrastructure and practical matters such as size compared to demand, support for transportation and information flow, and geographic location.
Steps One and Two are integrally connected:
Identifying the true intent of people backing the city by reaching out and working with the pioneers of the community.
My questions were, “Is this city just a flash in the pan? Another glorified tool to obtain money from investors? A castle in the sky?”
Having worked with leaders from several industries and sectors and some of the top talent and faculty developing in the Harvards, Stanfords, Yales, Johns Hopkins’, and MITs of the educational world, and having built teams, organizations, and companies with these leaders, I felt prepared to begin looking for answers to my questions. My approach to answering questions did not include going straight to the people-at-the-top (Mayors, Directors, and Government Officials), who are often surrounded by the typical political and practical barriers people in their positions face. I figured at this point, there was little relevant information I could learn from them, which I couldn’t read on a website.
Thus, I jumped right toward the people doing the groundwork behind developing this city.
The first leader I met was Don Southerton, an American born and educated historian on South Korean business and culture. Don Southerton wrote the book on Songdo from a historical perspective, leading readers into its future vision. The first conversation I had with him was highly educated, inspiring and authentic. The articles and books he wrote came from a passion that money couldn’t buy. Not only this, but his passion came out in his willingness to point me along my journey to discover what Songdo is really all about. Whoever brought him on board was either very lucky or really cared about doing their homework.
The second leader I met was Dr. Jorge Nelson, an expert educator pushing the envelope in education that should have been pushed several decades ago. Of course, I learned that Dr. Nelson has been pushing the envelope on education for several decades indeed. His passion and abilities clearly shine through in a sector (education) that desperately needs it. With the jaw-dropping, highly qualified faculty team he leads, I would beg to be his next door neighbor and put my children through his school any day. I might even consider going through K-12 (what Dr. Nelson now calls K-100) again with him at the helm. As of now, I consider myself lucky to be teaming up with International School Songdo to develop model workshops led and created by facilitators from top Universities around the world. Whoever brought Dr. Nelson on board to become the Headmaster of International School Songdo was once again either extremely lucky or really did their homework to maintain the high quality touted as being the very fabric of Songdo.
The third leader I met was Michel Ouimet, a multi-faceted and talented visionary well grounded in the arts of wise long term and strategic short term investments. Yet his work does not stop with his immediate role as CFO of the International School, but is powerfully manifested through his passion to build a community. Everyone is invited to play basketball in the school’s state-of-the-art gym on Wednesdays, be a contributing musician during music nights in his apartment building, and many more community oriented events. At this point in my endeavor to find the world’s most compelling city, I began to believe maybe the creators of this city were onto something special. Maybe Songdo would truly grow into its role as a global leader. Or, maybe the people that brought Michel aboard were just really lucky again. But meeting Michel, after discovering Songdo and connecting with Don and Jorge, was like watching a grand slam in the first inning of the World Series. It was like watching a highly practiced and prepared team, coming powerfully together for the big opening.
Michel Ouimet, Dr. Jorge Nelson, Joe Chung
Thus, I decided to pull the wild card. There’s no way a city with the slightest hint of inauthenticity could respond positively to this next move. I approached Songdo’s centrally located and first 5-star hotel with a request for a highly integrated, millenium-paced (meaning very fast-paced) partnership to help the city bring several world-class conferences to its doorsteps beginning as early as 2010. I did not think they would agree. Overstaffed and underoccupied given the timing of Songdo’s development, the Sheraton Incheon Hotel had already taken the necessary risks associated with being a first mover in a city that showed great potential. Therefore, either Sheraton’s investors were out of their minds or maybe they really actually knew what they were doing. Either way, if they had over-exerted themselves and weren’t focused on the main objective of a truly fast and successful launch, they would have easily overlooked my request and busied themselves within the much slower and traditional model of growth that all other cities and companies drably inspire from their people. Yet upon meeting with Sheraton’s head of Sales, Mun-Hee Park, and later the General Manager, Alain Rigodin, we began collaborating and I discovered the same common thread of passion-fueled movement integrated with reason-based action-planning truly existed within them, as it had within Don, Jorge, and Michel.
These five instrumental leaders gave me the confidence to wrap up the research completed for steps one and two. But the work was just beginning. In the very nature of conducting my research and being prepared to fully support a worthy endeavor, I was lucky to begin building a working relationship with these leaders and pioneers creating the city on a day-to-day basis. And in my line of work, coming across happy, inspired people working on the city means that the creators of this city have achieved no small feat in putting these teams together and creating these conditions for our success.
Step Three: Investigating the City’s Infrastructure.
Public Transportation and road infrastructure often reveals the first sign of weakness in a city. How fast and efficiently can you get around in this city? Unfortunately, the extremely critical and analytical portion of my research abilities were not able to find any weaknesses here. State of the art, near silent, subway lines, inside of state of the art (glowing light-bubbles included) subway stations, one-way fares equivalent to three US quarters, parks and open space encouraging walking instead of riding, a 20 minute bus ride to an International Airport where you can get to 1/3 of the world’s population within a 3.5 hour flight in any direction, taxi cabs arriving within 3 minutes of calling them (sometimes I think these cabbies have telepathy as they come zooming down the road 100 meters away, shortly after you call them), and my very favorite — the motion-detecting (only moving when you are on them) ultra-green, environmentally friendly escalators. Additionally, in future years there will be a high-speed train launched to transport people between Songdo and Seoul within 20 minutes.
Now onto observing supply as compared to demand in cities that have come from the ground up. With previous development of planned-cities, there have been few parameters in place to stop overbuilding. Some metropolises spread out of control. High supply, such as Dubai’s 70,000 units which came onto the market in late 2009 contributed to the current debt crisis occuring in Dubai today, which some experts estimate at up to $90B USD of troubled debts.
However, with Songdo, I have not observed over-building. The size of land in the main International Business District is limited, tightly knitted together and compact (though spacious with park space). The pre-planning and preparation of this city were unparalleled. Parties involved certainly completed their due diligence as they built Songdo.
Information flow in my version of a compelling, global city, is a must. Thus I will review language and technology.
Considering first the language of Songdo, my experience is that it truly is an English-speaking, International community. Of course Korean will be spoken widely but so far, I have not experienced an immediate need to learn the Korean language while working in Songdo. Other languages that I imagine will be used around the city, given its geographical location between China and Japan, are Mandarin, Japanese, and Cantonese. Once again, this mixture of languages and the International nature of the city, strengthens the necessity and usability of English as the main language used to get around in Songdo.
In terms of the technology backing information flow in Songdo, we are lucky to be sitting on the technological infrastructure created by Korea. People ride around on subways while having video phone conversations with each other or watching television on their handheld phones. This super high speed of data transfer can only mean one thing. Songdo city is extremely well poised to have its roots in Korean technology.
Enter companies such as Cisco. Cisco has developed dedicated lines for communication within the city of Songdo. Currently having implemented its best technology between important locations in the city, Cisco will be opening up the opportunity for people in Songdo to “telepresence” with each other and people and institutions from around the world. This instant form of communication can be likened to Skype Video conferencing x 100,000. These dedicated lines make it possible for data transfer at the speed of light from one point in the city or world to another. The technology behind this allows us to see even the most vivid details of the person you are communicating with and as you extend your boardroom, conference table, or dining table from Asia to Africa, India, Europe, North America, South America, or anywhere else in the world you’re looking to connect to. In Songdo, the world is truly at your fingertips.
Conclusion:
Others might glow red with instant content in a city that is abundant in wealth and profitability through the development of new technologies. But trust me, wealth and technology are just the beginning in a city like Songdo. Songdo is not a flash in the pan, it is not a glorified tool to obtain money from investors, and yet in a special way, it is indeed a castle in the sky. But this, I have found, is a very good thing. As Henry David Thoureau put it, “If you have built castles in the air… that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them,” and that foundation is exactly what we as people, have the opportunity of becoming in Songdo. Afterall, people should be the very foundation of any community, and the fact that Songdo was built with this purpose in mind (that we have this opportunity to become the foundation of this new city), attains for Songdo’s initial creators my most sincere and appreciative thanks for having the audacity for such a vision and the ability to bring it this far.
I first journeyed here to find out if Songdo might be the “world’s most compelling city.” Call me over the top, but after doing my research “A new hope for humanity” is a much more accurate title for a city like this. You might soon find Songdo replacing San Francisco as my new “current city” on my facebook page (so long as my buddies in Silicon Valley can keep up as Facebook recognizes Songdo as one of the world’s newest major cities).
And, I would encourage anyone with an appreciation for advance, quality, community, true learning, adventure, and forward movement to come out and join me!
The new book Chemulpo to Songdo IBD will soon be released. Details will be posted in the near future. In the meantime, plans are underway for media events in the US and Korea.
For more information:
dsoutherton@bridgingculture.com
or phone +1-310-866-3777
By Don Southerton, Songdo IBD CityTalk Editor and Chief Blogger
Incheon Grand Bridge
Great video on the new Incheon Grand Bridge. We expect the bridge to open in October 2009 as part of the Incheon Global Fair and Festival 80 day celebration.
Click here Incheon Bridge
By Don Southerton, Songdo IBD CityTalk Editor and Chief Blogger
Chemulpo Early 1900s
125 years ago , in 1884, Incheon port then commonly know as Chemulpo was designated a foreign settlement. By the early 1900s, thousands of Korean, Japanese, Chinese, and westerners had transformed the port into a vibrant international trade center. My forthcoming book, Chemulpo to Songdo IBD: Korea’s International Gateway will share the port’s amazing and significant history. An August 2009 book release is expected.
* Photo by George Rose, courtesy of Keystone-Mast Collection, UCR/ California Museum of Photography, University of California, Riverside
Incheon International Airport
By Don Southerton, Songdo IBD CityTalk Editor and Chief Blogger
Anyone who travels frequently knows that airports vary greatly. Some are better than others. I have always found Incheon a positive experience. It’s really no surprise that year-after-year they rank top in passenger satisfaction. When the new bridge linking the airport to Songdo IBD is completed later this year, the travel experience to Korea will be even better.
Global media notes…Incheon International Airport in South Korea won the coveted Best Airport Award, according to a survey conducted by Airports Council International. Passenger satisfaction with the new Terminal 3 promoted Singapore Changi Airport into 2nd place this year, with Hong Kong International Airport coming in at a close 3rd place. Airports Council International announced the top performing airports in the Airport Service Quality Survey.
1st World Towers, Songdo IBD
By Don Southerton, Songdo IBD CityTalk Editor and Chief Blogger
After a week in Korea, I’m back in La Jolla, California. I’d like to share some insights on the visit. First, flying into Incheon International Airport, the new bridge looked awesome. Th Songdo IBD skyline is also beginning to standout–buildings sprouting up.
I cannot wait for the bridge to link the project with the airport. In fact, the new bridge will open up much of the region south of Incheon and spur growth. At two occasions over the week, Korean friends commented on the bridge making travel more convenient and that local businesses would benefit. All were also impressed with the scope and scale of Songdo IBD.
I also had the opportunity to chat with the construction management team for the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea. They shared that the golf course was one of the most eco-friendly in the world. What I found interesting was not only the technology involved in the project, but Jack Nicklaus’ ongoing interest in the Songdo IBD golf course.
To conclude, over the week despite many in Korea feeling the impact of the global recession (and scarce Foreign Direct Investment in Korea)…Songdo IBD, the Gale International team, and their partners are moving forward with the project.
By Don Southerton, Songdo IBD CityTalk Editor and Chief Blogger
The “386 generation,” named after 386 computers, was coined in the 1990s to describe those in their late 30s and 40s who were “born in the 1960s and attended university in the 1980s.” It is the 386 generation who spent most of their youth fighting for democracy under authoritarian rule and who had a shared generational experience and culture for the first time in Korean history. They are now in decision-making positions in all fields, including political, economic, social and cultural areas. The 386 generation will go down in history as a very active and passionate group of people who toppled a military dictatorship of more than three decades and built democracy in Korea.
The 1990s was an era of a widening generation gap. Farewell to ideology, a new generation emerged – a generation that is heavily immersed in consumption. This group of Koreans was born during a time of rapid economic growth, spent their childhood in a prosperous environment and experienced the 1997 Asian financial crisis. They are substantial beneficiaries of the nation’s democracy, which was achieved by the blood, sweat and tears of the 386 generation. And they are the first generation who went abroad for travel and study with the liberalization of overseas travel and the advent of an era of information and communications.
Unlike the 386 generation who fought for democratization and ideological issues, what worries this new generation most is the high unemployment of university graduates. While the 386 generation enjoyed a booming economy with plenty of jobs available, the new generation is struggling with unemployment and riding the tide of “fierce competition.”
When Korea was hit by the Asian financial crisis, they were in high school or college. Raised in an affluent society with full access to the Internet, this new generation witnessed their fathers being kicked out of jobs and their families collapsing. After having to submit resumes without success, they have faced the grim reality that getting a job is crucial but never easy. The Asian financial crisis changed the mindset of this new generation in Korea to put the economy before anything else.
These young people, the first beneficiaries of globalization in Korea, have strong confidence and pride in their country, especially after the Korean national soccer team performance in the 2002 World Cup and with overseas travel and study much more common.
Their version of nationalism — which is based on the belief that Korea is not inferior whatsoever to the United States or Japan — is fundamentally different from the nationalism of past generations with vestiges of Japanese colonial rule of Korea.
A survey conducted by the Chosun Daily also showed that more than a third of this new generation has a positive impression of Japan, often associating it with its computer games and comic strips. With regard to the question of where they want to immigrate or work, apart from Korea, Australia was ranked first, followed by the U.S. and Japan, respectively.
Those aged between 26 and 35, also known as the “2635 Generation,” represent 17% of the national population and 24% of the working population.
Thoughts? Questions? Concerns? Comments are welcome.
Chairman Stan Gale
In his annual Chairman’s Message Stan Gale commented on past accomplishments, current challenges, and future opportunity. In sum, for 2009 Gale and Songdo IBD plan to go Full Speed Ahead.
Annual Message
Gale International Chairman Stan Gale expressed satisfaction from himself and CEO John Hynes that preparations in recent years have positioned the company well to weather the current global economic crisis. He expects 2009 to show continued progress on current projects and expects to capitalize on emerging opportunities as the need for large-scale urban development grows globally.
To our valued Employees, Investor and Development Partners:
Gale International traces its roots back to 1922, having pioneered innovative real estate developments in both up and down markets. The growth and evolution of our company is now focused on city scale multi use development. These business and living environments are designed to attract foreign investment and international commerce. They will serve as an engine for sustainable development and financial stability for the people and the markets they serve. As we look to the future, let me point to several areas of focus for our company.
Stay the Course
I encourage every Gale International employee, and our partners to continue to work “full speed ahead.” We are well positioned to keep projects underway and strengthen the economies in which we operate. Today, more than 20,000 people are gainfully employed, making a good living, as a result of our international initiatives.
Continued Project Progress
In the United States, plans for the 23-acre, $3 billion Seaport Square development in Boston are well underway, with construction work on the first mixed use block set to commence in mid-2009. Key leases are being negotiated and it is expected construction will start on the $700 million One Franklin project. We are also proud of our contribution in bringing the New York Jets training facility to Florham Park, New Jersey.
In Korea, work continues at an accelerated pace on the Songdo IBD. As you read this letter, over 30 projects and 50 buildings are underway representing an investment of over $10 Billion. A total of fourteen projects were started in 2008. This past October, we were proud to attend the opening of the Songdo Convensia convention center. Thousands of Korean and international visitors are getting a dramatic first look at Songdo IBD through the soaring windows of the Convensia lobby. The First World towers will welcome their first tenants in the first quarter of 2009 and tours are running through the Songdo International School. Preparation is well underway for Songdo IBD’s “Grand Opening,” which will coincide with the 2009 Global Fair and Festival and the opening of Incheon Grand Bridge, connecting Songdo IBD with the Incheon International Airport and the world beyond.
Focus on Sustainability
Gale International is committed to sustainable design and development. Sustainability means that Gale International projects will be more energy efficient, environmentally friendly and economically rewarding. Sustainability is proving to be a bulwark in a down market, maintaining market value as non-sustainable project returns erode. We are dedicated to enhancing the ability of our developments to carry themselves from both a revenue and long term cost perspective.
Partnerships for Global Expansion
The sustainability initiative has also allowed us to assemble an impressive list of strategic alliance partners. Business relationships have been forged with global leaders; companies like UTC, 3M, Microsoft and GE. This is in addition to existing partners Posco E&C and LGCNS. In 2008, we created the Sustainable International Development Team (SIDT). This includes a comprehensive list of investment partners, architects, engineers and consultants. Quality of life partners like Taubman and Jack Nicklaus also play an important role in the SIDT. The stated mission of the team is to dedicate its collective expertise to reduce the cost and development time of state-of-the-art sustainable city scale projects around the world.
Alignment of Interests
Periods of downturn often have the positive effect of aligning interests. We are committed to improving communication with our public and private sector partners to identify opportunities to ensure continued business growth. Every aspect of operations is being examined and evaluated. Our partners are doing the same. We see positive signs that the communities in which we operate are equally committed to keep the momentum gained to date going, despite economic challenges. For example, the city of Boston recently pronounced its intent to invest in local projects identified as crucial to the success of the city’s redevelopment initiatives. Our One Franklin (Filenes) project was singled out by Mayor Thomas Menino as a project particularly worthy of community support. No doubt, continued public sector support and local investment in our projects both in the US and in Korea will help to jump start slowing economies and spur job growth.
Gale International: 2009 and Beyond
As a result of the impressive progress in Songdo IBD, Gale International is considering development opportunities for future city scale projects. Enlightened government officials in burgeoning and evolving nations like China, India, Ireland, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Vietnam and Turkey are assuming a proactive leadership role in the creation of new urban models. The Songdo IBD experience and SIDT make Gale International and our partners uniquely qualified to assist in these developments.
The projects Gale International is proud to work on every day are not conceptual; they are thriving developments which present a unique, opportunity to set the standard for how future cities should be constructed. They are playing an important role in the evolving global economy. In this time of inertia, there is a distinct need for action. No doubt, there are many opportunities ahead for Gale International, our investors and development partners. From here we go “Full Speed Ahead.”